The present invention relates to methods to treat viral infections, dermal tumors, and warts in humans using heat-killed bacterial compositions. Specifically, it relates to the subcutaneous or intralesional administration of heat-killed Propionibacterium acnes (P. acnes), to treat dermal tumors and warts, and to the oral administration of heat-killed P. acnes to treat virus induced infections of the respiratory tract in humans.
The maintenance of a healthy and competent immune system is a prerequisite for resistance to and elimination of infectious and neoplastic diseases. Bacteria and their derivatives were among the first substances to be recognized as immunostimulators and are used as adjuvants in vaccines to boost the humoral immune response (e.g., complete Freund""s adjuvant). Bacteria have also been used as non-specific enhancers of the immune system to increase resistance and rejection of cancers, parasites, and infectious organisms.
Gram positive, whole-cell bacteria such as Propionibacterium acnes, Propionibacterium avidum, Propionibacterium lymphophilum, Propionibacterium granulosum, Cornynebacterium parvum and Arachnia propionica, when inactivated have been shown to be potent non-specific immune stimulants in animals and humans. Specifically Propionibacterium acnes (P. acnes) has been shown to stimulate antineoplastic activity, adjuvant activity, antiviral activity, antibacterial activity, and stimulate hematopoiesis.
Preparations of P. Acnes have been shown to act as non-specific stimulators of immunogenic responsiveness in vivo. P. Acnes is known to act by stimulating macrophages and neutrophils, initiating endogenous production of lymphokines (including IL-2 and various interferons), and enhancing killer cell activity. The intranasal inoculation of mice with P. acnes have been shown to activate pulmonary macrophages (Jackson R A, et al., J Leukoc. Biol., 40(5):575-87, 1986). At the cellular level, P. acnes acts upon monocytes and lymphocytes and improves the functional interaction between these cells (M. T. Scott, Cell Immunol., 17:141, 1975).
P. acnes also functions as an immune adjuvant to weakly antigenic substances. These properties, while not completely understood, play an important role in regulation of the immune response. One mode of the interaction of inactivated P. acnes with the immune system is through its stimulation of the reticuloendothelial system (RES), i.e. liver, spleen, lymph nodes, lungs, and bone marrow (C. Adlam, and M. T. Scott, J. Med Microbiol, 6:621 (1973), N. H. McBridge et al., Cell Immunol., 7:290 (1973)).
This activity elicits enhanced resistance to bacterial and viral infections, and also to certain tumors. This mode of action appears to be the activation of macrophages followed by the recruitment of lymphocytes. The particulate nature of P. acnes appears important for macrophage activation. Unlike some synthetic biological response modifiers (BRM""s), bacteria in vivo are fully degraded and catabolized in the body without the formation and excretion of toxic metabolites or retention of residues. This has obvious therapeutic advantages for P. acnes, and contributes to the therapeutic and prophylactic use of P. acnes against infectious diseases.
In animals, stimulation of the immune system results in short term protection against infection with certain viruses and bacteria. Used therapeutically in animals with chronic skin and respiratory disease, P. acnes shortens the course of the disease.
The anti-tumor activity of P. acnes has been studied in mice and other animals. Tumor cells injected into Balb/c mice together with heat-killed P. acnes cells were rendered nontumorigenic (Murano E A, et al, Cancer Immunol Immunother, 29(1):7-16, 1989). The preventive effect of P. acnes on metastasis in mice rendered tolerant to tumor-associated transplantation antigens (TATA) has been detailed (Fujiwara H, et al., Gann, 71(5):692-8, 1980). Heat-killed suspension of several P. acnes strains were prepared and studied for their protective activity against viral infections in mice and for their immunomodulating properties (Zgorniak-Nowosielska I, et al, Arch Immunol Ther Exp (Warsz), 37(3-4):431-42, 1989).
There has been considerable data collected on the use of P. Acnes in domestic animals. In a randomized study conducted for the treatment of equine respiratory disease (ERDC), complete recovery within a 14 day period was observed in horses treated intravenously with P. acnes (D. R. Evans et al., Equine Practice, 10:17, 1988; C. D. Vail et al., Vet. Review, November/December: 399, 1990). Additionally, inactivated P. acnes has also been shown to be a biological response modifier for treatment of non-specific respiratory diseases in horses where upon administration of P. acnes it was shown that CD4+ lymphocyte expression and lymphokine activated killer cell (LAK) activity increased (Flaminio M J, et al, Vet Immunol Immunopathol, 63(4):303-15, 1998).
In a randomized, double blinded, placebo controlled study, dogs with a significant skin disease (chronic recurrent pyoderma) were treated with antibiotics plus P. acnes with significant improvement or complete remission of the lesions (A. Becker et al., J. Vet Intern. Med. 13:26 (1989)).
P. acnes has been extensively used as a veterinary therapeutic in cattle with papilloma (warts) where the warts had been intralesionally injected with P. acnes (H. Hall et al., Therapeutic Immunology, 1:319, 1994). While, lesions in the control group which were injected with saline showed no regressions at the end of 16 weeks, 100% of the injected lesions in the treatment group had completely regressed at the end of 16 weeks.
Use of P. acnes in humans has, in general been limited to treatment of neoplastic diseases and pleural effusions with some limited success. Additionally, P. acnes has been administered orally in the rations of food production animals to promote better health through cell-mediated immunity and weight gain (U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/912,026). It has been used experimentally in people to treat various cancers, plural effusion and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. It has been used experimentally as an adjuvant with vaccines.
Based on these findings, a veterinary preparation of P. acnes was used as an injectable therapeutic agent against plantar warts caused by the human papilloma virus. However, significant pain upon injection was observed caused due to the alcohol content of the preparation. Thus, a preparation of P. acnes is needed that causes the regression of warts and dermal tumors in humans, but which may be administered without undue pain or harm to the patient. Additionally, this preparation must be administered via a route that allows regression of the warts while minimizing pain to the patient.
Although P. acnes has been used to treat respiratory diseases in horses and cattle, the oral administration of P. acnes with efficacy in humans has not been previously demonstrated. There is a need for a P. acnes preparation that can be safely administered to humans for the treatment of viral infections of the respiratory tract.
P. acnes preparations have been administered primarily through intravenous, intraperitoneal, or intrathoracic routes. However, they may also be administered orally, subcutaneously, or intralesionally depending on the type of infection and the determined dosage. P. acnes has been used at higher dose levels in experimental animals to study the release of nitric oxide by cells or the liver and other body tissues, and has been combined with vaccines as an adjuvant for subcutaneous or intramuscular injection. Ethanol-saline suspended preparations of heat-killed P. acnes for veterinary use in treating pyoderma, a bacterial infection in dogs, and respiratory infections in horses have been used. However, these preparations had to be administered intravenously in order to be efficacious. In another case, a feed additive consisting of dried P. acnes mixed with feed rations was given to baby pigs which subsequently exhibited decreased mortality, increased weight gain and feed conversion. However, optimization of the route of administration for the treatment of dermal warts, tumors, and viral infections of the respiratory tract in humans has not hitherto been conducted.
In order to efficaciously administer the P. acnes preparation, an optimal mode of inactivation of the P. acnes preparation is also needed. Although, suspending the P. acnes in an ethanol-saline suspension causes inactivation of P. acnes, the presence of ethanol causes discomfort in humans. Thus, there is a need to safely and adequately inactivate the P. acnes without any undue loss in activity. Heat-killing is an efficacious method of inactivating P. acnes. However, there is a need to develop a method of heat-killing that adequately inactivate the P. acnes while maintaining desired levels of activity.
This is an invention to induce regression of a virally induced dermal tumor, especially plantar warts for which painful surgical removal or chemical burning are the most common methods of removal. These alternate methods cause severe pain and limit mobility to a majority of patients receiving these treatments. It is also an invention to treat and hasten recovery from virally induced infection of the respiratory tract using autoclaved P. acnes through a novel route of administration, previously not demonstrated in man, that of oral administration.
This invention also relates to the preparation of an alcohol-free, terminally sterilized saline-suspended P. acnes product that causes the regression of dermal tumors, and plantar warts in humans. Terminal sterilization may be conducted through the process of autoclaving. In another embodiment of the product, an anesthetic such as lidocaine is added to the P. acnes product. The invention also relates to a novel intralesional administration of the P. acnes product into plantar warts, or other warts caused by the human papilloma virus causing regression of such warts, and the subcutaneous administration of the P. acnes product resulting in a systemic regression of warts.
This invention relates to the preparation, administration, and use of an inactivated bacterial product to induce regression of virally induced dermal tumors and warts, and to effectively treat virally induced infections of the respiratory tract. The warts may be plantar, genital, or surface warts anywhere on the skin or mucosal surface of the body, or those caused by the human papilloma virus.
The bacteria used for practicing the invention may be selected from the group consisting of Propionibacterium acnes, Propionibacterium avidum, Propionibacterium lymphophilum, Propionibacterium granulosum, Cornynebacterium parvum or Arachnia propionica. Preferably, the bacteria used for practicing the invention are selected from the Propionibacterium family. Most preferably, the bacteria used for practicing the invention is Propionibacterium acnes (P. acnes). Thus, P. acnes will be the bacterium referred to throughout the description, although any of the bacterial species claimed can be substituted. However, the statements contained in this description should apply to each of the bacteria claimed unless otherwise indicated, since all of the claimed bacteria are expected to have the same results due to their taxonomic similarity. Although it is now recognized that Cornynebacterium parvum (C. parvum) is thought to be synonymous with P. acnes, it has been included in the list due to the use of the name that still exists in the art.
In the present invention, a method for preparing a saline suspension of heat-killed P. acnes with demonstration of potency through a laboratory animal challenge model is disclosed. It has been determined that heat-killing, which usually destroys or alters the antigens needed to stimulate the immune responses, does not destroy the potency of the autoclaved P. acnes product. Furthermore, as shown in laboratory animal potency tests, the addition of an anesthetic such as lidocaine to the autoclaved P. acnes product does not destroy the potency of the P. acnes product.
P. acnes is known to be commercially available in forms such as an injectable solution (e.g., ImmunoRegulin(copyright) or EqStim(copyright) by Neogen Corp. (Lansing, Mich.)), but it may also be isolated and cultured by known, standard bacterial procedures or obtained from national culture collections. The bacteria used were obtained from ImmunoVet Corp. (Tampa, Fla.) who produced them under U.S.D.A. Product Code 9350.00. The bacteria may also be obtained from Neogen Corp. (Lansing, Mich.). The bacteria may be provided wet or dry. A dry form may be prepared by standard drying methods known to a person skilled in the art, such as freeze-drying or evaporation.
P. acnes may be manufactured by laboratory processes known in the art. P. acnes may be isolated and cultured by standard cell culture methods. The P. acnes product is prepared by culturing P. acnes on solid or in liquid media at a temperature of 36xc2x0 C.+/xe2x88x922xc2x0 C. for 24 to 192 hours, depending on the culture conditions. P. acnes may be grown on plates, e.g., agar plates containing various nutrients, or in bioreactors. The bioreactors include stationary culture flasks, shaker flasks, standard fermentors, hollow fiber reactors, perfusion reactors, plug flow reactors, etc., containing a fermentation broth with nutrients in dissolved form such as glucose, starches, tryptic soy broth, hormones, coenzymes, and optionally serum. P. acnes is then collected using standard separation methods such as centrifugation, and tested for purity by immunofluoresecence or biochemical testing.
The P. acnes is dried while subjected to heat sufficient to inactivate and kill it. Heat-killing is preferably conducted by heating the P. acnes in a water bath at 74xc2x0 C. to 90xc2x0 C. for 60 to 90 minutes. The P. acnes is then weighed and suspended in a sterile saline solution at a concentration of 0.005 to 10 mg/ml. The exact concentration is determined by the proposed use of the product, be it the treatment of warts or viral infections of the respiratory tract. The saline solution comprises sodium chloride in a buffer selected from the group consisting of alkaline metal phosphate or citrate buffers, such as sodium phosphate, potassium phosphate, sodium citrate, and potassium citrate, or sodium chloride in dI water. Preferably, the concentration of the sodium chloride is 0.85% w/v, more preferably the concentration of the sodium chloride is 0.9% w/v.
Optionally, the P. acnes may be mixed with carriers and fillers, and brought into the form of a therapeutically enteric pharmaceutical composition. Suitable carriers are sugars including but not limited to lactose, saccharose, mannitol, or sorbitol; cellulose preparations, amino acids such as glycine, binders such as starch pastes that use corn, wheat, rice or potato starch, gelatine, methylcellulose, hydroxypropylmethylcellulose, and sodium carboxymethylcellulose.
Optionally, an anesthetic may be added to the P. acnes product to induce local anesthesia when administered to the patient. Local anesthetics are drugs that block the generation and propagation of impulses in excitable tissues, most notably the spinal cord, spinal nerve roots, and peripheral nerves, but also skeletal muscle, cardiac muscle, and the brain. Preferably, the anesthetic is chosen from the group consisting of aminoamides, such as lidocaine (xylocaine), and aminoesters such as 2-Chloroprocaine. Preferably, the local anesthetic is lidocaine (xylocaine). Preferably, the anesthetic is added to the P. acnes preparation to make a final concentration of 0.25% to 5.0% v/v, more preferably at a final concentration of 0.5% to 2.5% v/v, and most preferably at a final concentration of 1% to 2% v/v.
The P. acnes may be lyophilized at any step in the preparation process depending on whether the final pharmaceutical formulation is to be stored as a liquid with stabilizing fillers, or as a lyophilized solid.
Once the P. acnes product is in the final vial, it is terminally sterilized by heating to 121xc2x0 C., for 20 minutes, at a pressure of 15 psi.
The P. acnes product may be tested for potency using standard animal inoculation tests which consists of pre-inoculating the animal with the product, followed by a lethal challenge of a known bacterial pathogen at 1-7 days which kills at least 75% of the non-inoculated control animals. The dosage units tested are equivalent to 109-1013 P. acnes, preferably 1010-1012 P. acnes. Lidocaine (xylocaine) is added at a dosage that does not affect the potency of the formulation. The laboratory animal potency tests demonstrated that this local anesthetic does not adversely affect the potency of the product.
In the present invention, the autoclaved P. acnes product is administered intralesionally or subcutaneously to cause the regression of plantar warts in humans. The P. acnes product retains activity once autoclaved and once injected, and may be used with or without the addition of an anesthetic. However, the novel addition of anesthetics like lidocaine to this immune modulating preparation of P. acnes retains the potency of the P. acnes while preventing pain upon injection. The warts may be plantar, genital, or surface warts located anywhere on the skin or mucosal surface of the body. The subcutaneous route of administration of the P. acnes product causes a systemic reaction that causes long-term warts to completely regress. Specifically, the subcutaneous injection of the product into the arm induces the regression of warts located on the hands or feet of the patients receiving the injection. Thus, it has been determined that at doses prescribed for intralesional injections, subcutaneous injection may also be effective in causing a systemic regression of the warts. Multiple injections may be made intralesionally or subcutaneously for the purpose of treating plantar warts. Repeated doses in animals or humans have not resulted in any cumulative toxicity. Since the plantar warts are the most difficult variety of the human papilloma to treat, multiple injections may be required over time. However, a single injection may cause regression of the wart. For the regression of warts, the P. acnes is administered at a dose of 0.001 to 5 mg per dosage, preferably at a dose of 0.005 to 2.5 mg per dosage, and more preferably at a dose of 0.01 to 1 mg per dosage.
The P. acnes product may also be used to treat chronic complications of the respiratory tract due to viral or bacterial infections where symptomatic coughs are persistent. The P. acnes product is orally administered as a treatment for acute or subacute viral infections of the respiratory tract in people, at a dose range of 0.1 to 10 mg, and more preferably at a dose range of 0.5 to 5 mg. Oral administration of the heat killed, terminally sterilized P. acnes saline product will hasten recovery from virally induced infections of the upper and lower respiratory tract. Optionally, an FDA approved natural or synthetic flavoring is added to the final product to make the administered product more palatable. The FDA approved natural flavorings are listed in the Code of Federal Regulations, 21 CFR 172.510. The synthetic flavorings are listed in 21 CFR 172.515.
The complete disclosure of all patents, patent documents, and publications cited herein are incorporated by reference. The detailed descriptions and examples herein have been given for clarity of understanding only. No unnecessary limitations are to be understood therefrom. The invention is not limited to the exact details shown and described, for variations obvious to one skilled in the art will be included within the invention defined by the claims.